Dark Moon Rising: Pagan BDSM and the Ordeal Path - Raven Kaldera

This is not an introductory text on paganism, or on S&M, nor is it a how-to guide, as evidenced by the fact that the contributors stay well away from the rough waters of defining BDSM in favor of sounding the depths of personal experience and spiritual context. The difficult and necessary work of guiding beginners through the rocky shallows is done well by others, and nearly everyone who wonders "How can I blend my BDSM practice with my pagan spirituality?" will have read and/or thought enough to understand what constitutes their own pagan spirituality and their own BDSM practice.

Instead the contributors discuss frankly their perspectives on reasons for engaging in pagan BDSM, their own experiences, and rituals incorporating pagan spirituality and pain play and restraint. There is a level of honesty here which I think is missing from other books about pagan spirituality, a willingness to engage in confrontation with the animalistic desires all humans have, and which for some manifest as sexual desires to dominate or to be dominated, to give or to receive pain. Although it would be unfair to dismiss all that is bright, light, or joyful as shallow and unimportant, it can easily become superficial without also acknowledging the importance of those aspects of spirituality that really grapple with the truths that the world is often painful and nature requires death, without trying to erase these truths or encourage people to divorce themselves from experiencing them fully. For some, the way into a profound awareness and acceptance of these truths is through willingly accepting pain, restriction, and service to another. If you are one of these, this book is one of only a very few offerings that actually address this perspective.

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